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January 31, 2015 at 9:15 am in reply to: Miklasz: Three ways to view Goodell's remarks (relocation thread) #17728
znModeratorThere’s a lot of tip-toe-ing and ‘balancing of interests’
talk going on now.
(and there’s lots to balance — San Diego,
Oakland, St.Louis, LA, the NFL, season ticket sales, etc etc)Exactly WHEN are we gonna know something concrete?
Is there a time-table here? Some dates
where something has to be decided?
Or is everyone going to be in limbo
all during the offseason and season?w
vThere is no set in advance target date in 2015 that would change anything.
Doesn’t mean things won’t change or clarify or whatever…but there is no set in advance time it must happen by.
znModeratorFor me all of this is completely dependent on personnel.
That’s just how I tend to see it.
Yep, you can be the most competitive guy on the field but without talented personnel it’s tough to win consistently
I don’t mean it;s a talent issue, though in principle you’re right.
I was talking partly about injuries, which change how units can perform.
znModeratorI always look at context.
Why did they start faster in 2012, in spite of massive issues with the OL (that line started 4 guys who were out of football or benched the following year–Hunter Ojinakka Turner Richardson).
Me? I think they had key veterans in place like Jackson, Mikkel, Amendola. And it made a huge difference.
Why did they start slower in 2013?
A massive miscalculation which had them attempting a spread passing game with inexperienced, young receivers and a running game dependent on Daryl Richardson.
Why did they start slower in 2014?
Losing Bradford was a shock, the defense was not in sync and still learning a new system, and they had a banged up OL all summer that was not in sync early on because of down time with guys who were recovering (Long, Wells).
But comparing this to 2012, another thing missing is veteran leaders with actual cache. I think Bradford was going to be that.
For me all of this is completely dependent on personnel.
That’s just how I tend to see it.
znModeratorYou know I did a quick look at this a couple weeks back.
I went to Over.the.cap.com and looked at the Seattle cap situation, and who their FAs will be, and so on. I took it from 2015 through 2017.
And, I don’t agree that extending Wilson and giving him his 20 or so M will hurt them.
It looks to me like they managed things quite well. They can sign Wilson and keep the defense intact through 2017 at least, near as I could tell.
Plus they have 3 drafts from now through 2017 too.
I ain’t no paid professional cap-xpert or nothin, but I didn’t see where they would get hurt.
January 31, 2015 at 6:33 am in reply to: Miklasz: Three ways to view Goodell's remarks (relocation thread) #17715znModeratorGoodell speaks about franchise relocation
By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot…cle_810ace79-8b67-560c-aaa0-fe6b43f315a8.html
PHOENIX • While expressing a general league-wide desire to keep franchises in their current markets, and deeming the St. Louis stadium effort a positive development, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also issued a vague warning about the Rams’ ability to meet relocation guidelines.
“We want all of our franchises to stay in their current markets,” Goodell said Friday at the annual State of the NFL press conference. “That’s a shared responsibility; that’s something that we all have to work on.”
Goodell cited programs, including the league’s stadium-funding program, that are available to cities trying to build new stadiums.
“And we will work, and have worked with communities including St. Louis,” he added.
Goodell said the business community — as well as the public sector — needed to be engaged in a stadium-building project to make sure a plan works for both the community and the team. The idea is making sure that teams can be successful long-term in that market.
Goodell also had good things to say about the St. Louis stadium initiative headed by Gov. Jay Nixon’s two-man task force of former Anheuser-Busch executive Dave Peacock and St. Louis attorney Bob Blitz.
“The St. Louis representatives seem determined to build a stadium,” Goodell said. “That’s a positive development and something that we look forward to working on with them.”
(Peacock was scheduled to attend the commissioner’s annual Super Bowl party Friday night, in more of a meet-and-greet setting than any nuts-and-bolts meeting.)
But when asked about Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s seeming lack of direct engagement in the St. Louis project, and whether that constituted a failure to meet the league’s relocation guidelines, Goodell didn’t exactly give the answer that St. Louis wanted.
“Stan has been working on the stadium issues in St. Louis, as you know, for several years,” Goodell said. “They had a formal (arbitration) process as part of their lease. They went through that entire process.
“So I don’t think the stadium is a surprise to anybody, in any market that is having these issues. There’s been quite a bit of discussion about it.”
Longtime NFL stadium consultant Marc Ganis, who as usual attended the commissioner’s press conference, saw both positives and negatives to Goodell’s remarks with respect to St. Louis.
“(Goodell) is not foreclosing any options,” said Ganis, president of Chicago-based SportsCorp. “Unlike many of the reports that are out there that (a team in) LA is somehow a foregone conclusion, he was very clear that is absolutely not the case for any team and for any owner — and that includes of course Stan Kroenke.”
Earlier this month, Kroenke announced plans to build a stadium in Inglewood, Calif., as part of an overall development plan in the Hollywood Park area of Los Angeles.
“What Roger is also saying about St. Louis that came through loud and clear was: Get your stadium deal put together, and make it solid,” said Ganis, who worked as a Rams consultant when the team moved to St. Louis from Southern California in 1995.
“The previous three years related to the arbitration process is going to be taken into account when the issue is raised as to whether the Rams and Stan Kroenke worked in good faith with the community. That is gonna be taken as part of the effort.”
However, Ganis’ view in terms of meeting relocation guidelines was not universally shared by those who listened to Goodell’s remarks Friday.
“What has Kroenke been doing in St. Louis for the past few years in St. Louis?” said one longtime NFL team executive familiar with the situation. “All he has done is participate in the arbitration. He made it clear he wanted to go year-to-year, and wouldn’t discuss a settlement or compromise.”
The Rams formally exercised their option to go year-to-year on the Edward Jones Stadium lease on Monday.
According to the NFL’s relocation guidelines, teams must show they have exhausted all efforts to settle their stadium (or other) issues in their current market before being allowed to move to another city.
Goodell did emphasize the importance of following relocation guidelines for any team wanting to move to Los Angeles. As far as the league is concerned, going rogue and moving without league approval is not an option.
“The ownership takes very seriously the obligation for us all to vote on any serious matter, including relocation of a franchise,” Goodell said. “There’s a relocation policy that is very clear. We have shared it with our ownership over the last several years.
“We have emphasized the point in each of those meetings that there will be at least one vote if not multiple votes if there is any relocation. We would potentially have the relocation itself, potential stadium funding, potential Super Bowls. So a lot of things that likely would be subject to a vote. So any relocation would be subject to a vote.”
Even with the announcement of Kroenke’s LA stadium plan, Goodell said, there has been no determination that the league wants a team there at this point — or that it has decided on any of several proposed stadium sites in the area.
“As a league, we haven’t gotten to that stage yet,” Goodell said. “We have several alternatives that we’re evaluating from a site standpoint. There are teams that are interested but are trying to work their issues out locally.”
Besides the Rams, those teams are Oakland and San Diego. On Friday, there was an announcement in San Diego on the formation of a task force to try to resolve the Chargers’ stadium situation.
After Goodell’s press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers chairman Dan Rooney echoed the commissioner’s thoughts on keeping the Rams in St. Louis.
“We don’t want any team to be moving,” Rooney told the Post-Dispatch. “We think that if they stay in their own area, and work at it, do a lot of really good things as far as community relations and things like that, that they’ll be successful.
“Sure you need a new stadium if it’s old. We don’t play St. Louis very often, so I can’t say that I’m right on the button as far as your stadium is concerned.”
Rooney also indicated that the television networks had talked about putting a team in Los Angeles.
“You know, they talk about it all the time,” he said. “They’ve done pretty well without (a team in LA). But there are people that want to go there. But as I answered the question earlier, we’re not anxious to have people move and things like that. Maybe the right thing can be accomplished.”
January 31, 2015 at 6:23 am in reply to: audio + article — Bradford on Rehab, DeflateGate, & Super Bowl XLIX #17714znModeratorznModeratorThomas Says Rams’ Reported Interest for Foles ‘B.S.’
Brendan Marks
Reports emerged earlier this week that the St. Louis Rams would have interest in Nick Foles if the Philadelphia Eagles decided to trade him during the offseason.
Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, however, is calling the reports B.S., literally.
“In talking to some Rams people, the two letter answer I get to that is B-period-S-period,” Thomas told The Ryan Kelley Morning After on Friday. “You really don’t talk about those trades in late January when the beginning of the trade period is March 10. There’s nothing to that right now.”
Thomas said Foles “doesn’t move the needle” a lot in his opinion.
“It would come down what you would want to give up for him. I certaintly wouldn’t give up a first round (pick). I’m not even sure I’d give up a second round,” he said.
The Rams are clearly in need of an upgrade at quarterback. Sam Bradford has torn two ACLs in as many seasons and in 2014 the team bounced between backup quarterbacks Austin Davis and Shaun Hill.
Bradford, 27, has one year and $16.58 million left on his six year, $78 million rookie contract. Barring the unforeseen circumstance that he and agent Tom Condon are unable to reach an agreement with the Rams to restructure his deal, the quarterback will return to the Rams in 2015 to compete for the starting job in his sixth NFL campaign
In his season-ending press conference earlier this month, Jeff Fisher said Bradford would compete for the starting job with ‘someone not in the building.
January 30, 2015 at 7:20 pm in reply to: Can the Patz beat the Hawkz? For that matter…can the Hawkz beat the Patz? #17704znModeratorfrom off the net
—
aeneas1
so what are we looking at, the hawks throttling a top offensive team again in the super bowl, as they did last year? maybe the patriots throttling the hawks in a screw the detractors statement game? or a close game that goes down to the wire? seems that this game could go in a number of directions that wouldn’t be very surprising. except for the patriots hanging a bunch of offensive points on the hags, i think that would be pretty surprising.
the bills had the 3nd ranked defense in offensive points allowed this year and the pats hung 37 on them in the first meeting (brady sat out the second half in the second meeting, the last game of the season). the pats’ offense also hung 34 on the 2nd ranked defense (lions) and 35 on the 9th ranked defense (ravens). that said, i would be surprised if the pats’ offense hung a bunch of points on the hawks’ defense this weekend.
btw, the pats and seahawks have met once before since carroll has been the hags’ hc, in 2012… the patriots rolled up a bunch of offensive yards, a whopping 475, and a whopping 26 first downs, against seattle’s #1 ranked defense, and led 23-10 in the 4th quarter. but the seahawks rallied for 14 points behind two wilson td passes and won 24-23.[/quote]
January 30, 2015 at 3:36 pm in reply to: 101, 1/26 … Albert Breer on re-location (re-location thread) #17692znModeratorThis reply was modified 2 seconds ago by zn.
When people see this, it means I got rid of the extra code that shows up sometimes when people quote multiple posts.
Though it would be useful when you posted to edit it yourself to get rid of that stuff. I generally use invisible edit because it’s just cleaner and you get a better “reading flow.”
January 30, 2015 at 2:57 pm in reply to: 101, 1/26 … Albert Breer on re-location (re-location thread) #17686znModeratorIf you are considering investing hundreds of millions of dollars in something, you probably think through the “growth potential.”
I don;t know about that. I think that’s SK. There are owners who actually think of their teams as belonging to a community, and that’s real to them.
znModeratorPlayer’s Take on Deflategate
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/deflategate/
Chris Long
Social Media EditorThe 24-hour news cycle has an insatiable appetite. The phenomenon was no more apparent in the slow week between the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Just as media everywhere braced for the silence, a miracle happened. D’Qwell Jackson, a linebacker for the Colts, intercepted a football.
This wasn’t any ordinary football. You see, it had less air in it than usual. To the Colts, that seemed to be a big deal. The guy who unintentionally tossed him the rock is kind of a big deal, too. If you haven’t been living in a bunker with no Wi-Fi, a mile under an enormous rock this week, you know the rest of the story. But is this really just a convenient scoop, gift-wrapped for the media to stretch into an epic saga when they needed it most, or is this a legacy-altering scandal for Brady, Belichick and the Patriots?
Don’t get me wrong, Deflategate is the perfect storm of media and sports hype. It’s entertaining. It’s an equal opportunity touchdown of a story, accessible to the most well versed football analysts and your favorite cable news “personality” alike. It isn’t about unbalanced sets or the read option or Cover 2. It’s about air in a football. Air. Everyone knows a bit about that. Cue the experts!
Speaking of entertainment, we saw it all this week: morning show hosts clutching deflated pigskins, scientists theorizing on ESPN, and even government officials weighing in on the firmness of our nation’s footballs. The icing on the cake for me was seeing advertisers rushing to cash in on the chaos with their own best shot at a clever commercial. Krispy Kreme was one of the most notable. I even saw Maker’s Mark take an awkward shot at it. (Just another reason I prefer Jack Daniels.) And of course, it’s not a scandal until you throw a “-gate” on the end of it. Oh, and it rhymes. Bingo. Deflategate.
As an NFL player, watching Deflategate unfold (maybe explode is the better word) has been all the more surreal. I should have all the answers about how a football is supposed to look and feel. As a defensive end, however, when it comes to possessing the football, I’m just a fan with really good seats. I’ve probably handled the pigskin in a game about five times in seven years. The ball could turn into a small house pet in my hands and I wouldn’t notice. When I’m lucky enough to get the ball, I’m one of those kid-on-Christmas-morning defensive players who’s just trying not to pull a Leon Lett.
You want to know who handles the football more than anyone on the field? The refs. I’m not only talking about the pre-game inspection process. I’m talking about throughout the game, in between every play. Now, I’m not saying that an NFL referee should be a human psi (pounds per square inch) reading machine. (Silicon Valley, get on that.) But if a football feels so obviously different at 11 psi than it does at 13.5 psi — enough to argue that it lends a team a competitive advantage — maybe the best officials on the planet should have noticed something was awry that night at Gillette.
Another thing that was awry that night was the weather. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, who’ve been playing together in the AFC East for the last 15 years, know something about cold, wet weather. They seem to play their best when the temperature drops and snow or rain is falling. So if you believe Tom and Bill have been using deflated footballs, game in and game out, for a decade and a half, why is this the first time we’re hearing about it? That’s all the way back to 2001. You know how long ago that was? The first PT Cruiser came out in 2001. Creed was killing it in 2001. So either the Patriots have been doctoring footballs in every big game since Mulholland Drive was in theaters, or they’ve simply mastered the art of winning no matter the conditions.
Deflategate has also turned a lot of people into scientists. The scientist in me (also known as the dude who googles stuff) can see valid points on both sides of Deflategate. One guy I noticed last week was the host of the ESPN’s Sport Science, John Brenkus (a trustworthy University of Virginia grad at that). He concluded that “underinflated balls had a miniscule effect on any given play.” As ESPN’s authority on the the intersection of physics and sports, I couldn’t help but wonder if he made the folks in Bristol a little uncomfortable. The mothership has tirelessly led the effort to make Deflategate a spectacle.
Regardless, those physics folks have tended to agree on one thing: Changes in temperature can alter game ball pressure, changing the magic psi number in a big way. Both teams’ game balls were examined at halftime. Why were 11 of 12 Patriots footballs underinflated at the half while all of the Colts’ footballs remained “normal”? Common sense says that it’s likely there was some sort of human intervention, from someone in the Patriots camp. (Who it was, and why they did it, will give us a better idea of the necessary punishment.) But hypothetically, what if a team naturally prefers their footballs more inflated? They could overinflate the game balls to balance for the loss of pressure in the colder temperatures. That would be ludicrous right? What kind of idiot likes more air in their footballs?
A guy named Aaron Rodgers does. He likes them inflated to the max. Aaron Rodgers has reportedly said that he likes to “push the limit” on football air pressure. I feel sorry for Jordy Nelson catching those bullets up there in that brisk Green Bay climate. Then again I don’t because it must be nice having the best quarterback in the league throwing you passes, and the best quarterback also seems to employ a bit of gamesmanship. As Brenkus said this week on Sport Science, an overinflated football actually travels faster. How’s that for an advantage?
So it seems that the doctoring of game balls is nothing new — it’s just new to the public (and new to guys like me who, sadly, never get to tote the rock). As recently as this November, cameras caught the Panthers and Vikings using sideline heaters to heat up their footballs because game temperatures were hovering in the teens. According to NFL VP of Officiating Dean Blandino, this was a violation of league rules. But what kind of violation — a grievous ethical one, or something more gray? Another example: former Buccaneers QB Brad Johnson has admitted paying $7,500 to have his footballs doctored to his specifications for Super Bowl XXXVII, a game in which the Bucs cruised to a 48-21 victory. He freely and openly offered up that information. No one’s calling Brad Johnson’s legacy into question (and they shouldn’t).
The thing about Deflategate is that you can marshal an argument to support each and every side. You might think I’m carrying water for the Patriots, but I’m actually not. As an NFL player, I can admire Brady’s career and still ask critical questions. Someone defending the Patriots could point out that the Pats outscored the Colts 28-0 in the second half, after the deflated footballs had been replaced. (It was a competitive game, at 17-7, at the end of the first half.) They could also bring up the fact that two out of three of Brady’s TD passes came in the second half, or that his only interception came in the first. Brady also threw for more yards in the second half (131 versus 95) and had eight fewer incompletions. Basically, the change didn’t seem to rattle him. Maybe this sample size is too small to prove a point. I’m sure, however, that if the Patriots had played miserably in the second half and lost the game, everyone calling for an asterisk next to the busts of Belichick and Brady in Canton would lead with that argument.
And what about the run game? What effect does a football’s pressure have on a team’s rushing? LeGarrette Blount rushed for 148 yards and the Patriots didn’t fumble once that night. For years now, the Patriots have been elite when it comes to protecting the football. I’ve heard stories of the Patriots running drills with soaking wet, slick footballs. My college coach and good friend Al Groh is one of the tougher branches on the Belichick coaching tree, so I’m familiar with this style of coaching. As another coach told me, you get what you emphasize. This emphasis has been paying off for years. But that’s just the football player in me talking.
Let’s get down to it: this story isn’t as much about air pressure as it is about the cult of the New England Patriots. The Patriots are really good at two things: winning football games and not giving a shit what you think about them. This modus operandi has earned the Patriots an equal number of fans and haters. One thing that drives people crazy is Belichick’s “less is more” school of media engagement. Media relations, after all, is a game. It involves three parties: the teams, the media and the fans. All three groups know it’s a game, but if a player or a coach doesn’t play ball, people get pissed. Bill Belichick is not only a Hall of Fame coach, but he is also the undisputed heavyweight champion when it comes to flustering members of the media. I find it hard to believe Deflategate would be as big of a story without Belichick and Brady as the villains. Anybody heard about the recent Cleveland Browns texting allegations? I didn’t think so.
It all came to a crescendo this week, as all eyes were fixed on Foxborough. This had to be it. We’d finally see contrition. We’d get our coveted admission of guilt. We’d finally see Tom Brady and Bill Belichick sheepishly take the podium and whisper “mercy.” But all Tom and Bill proceeded to do was twist the knife. Tom stuck to his story. And so did Bill. Days later, Belichick stole the show by calling an impromptu press conference and pulling the ultimate “have some” maneuver: he made the media wait, strolled in on his own schedule and went all Isaac Newton. The media, longing to get Coach Belichick’s time and attention for years, finally had it: in the form of a physics lesson. It was beautiful.
I never thought a story about the science of football could be so entertaining, thought provoking and funny. (I even stumbled upon an article titled “What Can I Tell My Kids About Deflategate?” so you can add “disturbing” to this list of adjectives.) This mess will change the future of the league. Starting after the Super Bowl. The least self-serving thing the NFL can do mid-Super Bowl week is release some damning grainy video of sideline footage — if they have it. You’d also better believe sideline protocol will be forever changed. League officials will sit in some crow’s nest in NYC monitoring the sideline like Saul in Homeland. (Look on the bright side, at least this might create jobs.)
The real storyline this week should be about one of the most exciting, evenly matched Super Bowls in recent memory. It should be about Brady and Belichick’s last and best chance to take their place in history alongside Noll and Bradshaw, Walsh and Montana. But as usual, some members of the media chose to go after the low hanging fruit.
I’m not saying the Patriots should skate free. If it comes out that the Patriots are guilty of bending or breaking league rules, they should be punished. But we should wait for an investigation to play out. Even today, Patriots owner Robert Kraft doubled down on the the team’s innocence, maintaining he believes “unconditionally that the New England Patriots have done nothing inappropriate.”
No matter what comes of this, I don’t think I’ll be questioning the Patriots’ legacy. But that’s just one man’s opinion. Football is a profoundly difficult game. You could pair countless quarterbacks with countless head coaches and give them a bag of magic footballs and they’d still struggle to win a playoff game. Tom and Bill have won 20 (a record), with an ever-changing cast of characters in an ever-changing league. This Sunday’s Super Bowl may be one of their most difficult tasks yet. The Seahawks are as physical and complete a football team as I’ve seen in my seven years in the league. Beating them takes a hell of an effort. As a player, I know. We’ve been fortunate enough to beat them a few times, and we’ve always appreciated how special it was.
I know this for sure: the most perfect, pristine footballs of all time will be flying around that field in Glendale, Arizona this weekend. If the smoke clears on Monday and the Patriots are world champions, my hope is that everyone will appreciate the Patriots for sustaining one of the great runs by a franchise in league history. Either way, Bill Belichick won’t care what you think.
znModeratorKurt-in call?
By Jim Thomas
PHOENIX • There are 25 quarterbacks in the NFL Hall of Fame, but there have been no inductees at the position since Troy Aikman and Warren Moon in 2006.
Dick Vermeil has no doubt the nine-year drought ends Saturday with Kurt Warner.
“I’m confident for sure that Kurt will go in,” said Vermeil, Warner’s coach on the Super Bowl XXXIV championship Rams. “It’s almost impossible to leave him out.”
Given his unusual background and the totally unforeseen start in the NFL, Warner’s accomplishments “will never be done again,” Vermeil said. “What other qualification do you need?”
Well, there were the two NFL MVP honors. The gaudy numbers. Guiding a pair of woebegone franchises to the Super Bowl — the Rams (twice) and the Arizona Cardinals (once).
His playoff numbers deserve special emphasis. Warner is the only player to throw for 300-plus yards in three Super Bowls. Included in that trio of games is a record 414 yards passing in that Super Bowl XXXIV victory over Tennessee to cap the 1999 season.
“His playoff numbers, his quarterback efficiency rating, are better than anybody that’s in the Hall of Fame,” Vermeil said. “And if you took all the quarterbacks that are gonna be Hall of Famers in the future and included his quarterback efficiency rating in playoff games, yards thrown and everything, it’s better than those guys. It’s better than Tom Brady’s, it’s better than anybody’s.”
Mike Martz, Warner’s offensive coordinator in ‘99 and then his head coach, feels the same way about his first-ballot chances.
“How could he not?” Martz said. “He’s a two-time MVP. Took two teams, went to three Super Bowls. Won one. How could he not? And you know, the two that he lost were lost on the final play of the game.”
But there are some voters who wonder about the so-called “hole” in his career, specifically the 2004 season with the New York Giants that bridged the time between his Rams’ tenure (1998-2003) and his Arizona stint (2005-09).
Warner began that Giants season as the starter and played OK, but then was benched in favor of rookie and No. 1 overall draft pick Eli Manning.
“That’s been held against him a little bit from rumors I’ve heard,” Vermeil said. “But if that’s true, then my gosh you’ve got to eliminate everybody. Then neither one of the coaches going into this Super Bowl game can go (to the Hall of Fame) because they’ve been fired before. One of them (Pete Carroll) was fired twice.
“And (wide receiver) Cris Carter, who’s all-everything on television now, was run out of Philadelphia for criminy sakes — for bad reasons. And he’s already in the Hall of Fame.
“So it doesn’t make really good sense. There are no legitimate negatives against Kurt going in.”
Truth be told, a chronic thumb injury from his Arena Football League days contributed as much as anything to Warner’s mid-career lull. It worsened over the years and affected his grip — leading to fumbles — and affected his accuracy.
His career revival in Arizona came after he started to wear a glove on his throwing hand, improving his grip on the football.
“Wearing that glove really helped him,” Martz said.
And whether it’s this year, or sometime in the future, deciding to wear that glove will get him in the Hall of Fame. Because as Marshall Faulk said, leading a Rams offense brimming with playmakers to a pair of Super Bowls was one thing. Doing it again with a less-talented cast in Arizona was another.
“What solidified his Hall of Fame career … is when he went to Arizona and took that organization to a Super Bowl,” Faulk said.
Even Warner realizes the success in Arizona, coupled with what he accomplished with the Rams, is a key part of his Hall of Fame resume.
“I take great pride in that part of things,” he said. “Just being able to be a part of two organizations — like you said — the losingest team in the ‘90s (the Rams, until early in the ‘99 season).
“And the Cardinals, the losingest team over the last half century. To be a part of taking them to places that they’ve never been before to me is what puts the stamp on my career.
“Whether that has anything to do with the Hall of Fame or anything, that’s who Kurt Warner was. I think that’s the epitome of it. And I’m gonna always look back at that with great pride.”
The fact that the Super Bowl and the Hall of Fame voting is taking place in his adopted hometown of Phoenix has made this an unusual week for the always-busy Warner.
He’s working here this week as an analyst for the NFL Network. But he’s also “working” at home, which means running his kids all over the place. Waking them up in the morning, getting them off to school.
After his Super Bowl Media Day obligations Tuesday, he also coached a son’s flag football team and played spectator at a youth basketball game.
“That’s kind of the coolest part,” Warner said. “If you’re on the road in a hotel, you’re probably thinking about the Hall of Fame even more. People are asking you about it. You’re doing more media stuff.
“Here at home, I get to kind of be normal. I come do my little media stuff for a couple hours, then I go back to being normal.”
But come Saturday morning, Warner says the anxiousness will set in as he awaits the Hall of Fame verdict for 2015.
“You’re gonna start to realize how much more it means to you when you get to those moments,” he said. “But a key for me is I don’t by any means want Saturday to be a negative in any way.
“If I don’t get the call or the knock on the door — however they do it — I don’t want to look at it like, ‘Oh I didn’t make it!’ Or I was defeated in any way. Because this is a tremendous honor to be right in this place.
“And there’s a lot of unbelievable guys that are up for it this year. If I don’t get in, I still want to celebrate the process and celebrate where I’m at, and maybe more importantly, celebrate those five that go in.”
znModeratorInjuries forced Seattle to start four different centers during the 2014 regular season for the first time in team history.
Ooops, I stand corrected don’t I.
January 29, 2015 at 1:05 am in reply to: Why your team's hunt for an offensive coordinator isn't going so well #17627znModeratorReport: Eagles assistant doesn’t want 49ers coordinator job
Darin Gantt
The 49ers chose tranquility and control over Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff.
And now, it looks like they’re having a hard time finding people willing to join new coach Jim Tomsula’s staff.
Via Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com, Tomsula and Eagles receivers coach Bob Bicknell talked about the vacant 49ers offensive coordinator job, but Bicknell wants to stay with the Eagles.
The 49ers were also denied a chance to talk to Colts assistant Rob Chudzinski, and .they could be scrambling to fill a staff.
Moving quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst into that job might be the most sensible option they have with other reported additions to the staff.
But very little about the 49ers can be described as sensible the last several months, so that may not matter.
znModeratorHas not called a play in a huddle
Accustomed to throwing to wide open receivers
Limited experience reading defenses
No experience in a pro style offense
System inflation
Has not thrown the entire route tree (Middle of the field stick throws)
One read thrower
Gonna be asked to do things he’s never done
Needs timeBoy that sounds eerily familiar. I (and others) said all that about Bradford before the 2010 draft. But then…I also think SB lived up to the challenge and overcame all those things. I think he became a very good NFL qb. For me, the only thing holding him back has been injuries.
I don;t know if Mariota will develop along those lines or not.
znModeratorI think the simple list of Points Against the Defense
shows a nice trajectory. Nice improvement by the D. I mean
the D played well enuff to win eight of the last nine. Certainly
at least seven of the last nine.10
17
7
20
0
0
12
37
13=========
w
vYes I agree with that.
znModeratorDefensive snapshot. Is there a trajectory here?
Did the defense improve?w
v
======================
Rushing yards given up
185
157
123
145
89
171
140
80
28
28
128
61
27
143
128
132
—————
Defensive points given up
27
17
27
20
24
26
27
10
17
7
20
0
0
12
37
13
——————–
passing yards given up170
179
217
207
343
313
223
237
307
369
282
183
179
131
386
222I think we talked about this during the season.
The key to beating the Rams defense is sticking with the run.
znModeratorJim Thomas @jthom1
Hackett pulls out of Rams OC search taking job in Jacksonville per @Rapsheet
===
Report: Nathaniel Hackett to be Jaguars quarterbacks coach
by Josh AlperThe Rams interviewed Nathaniel Hackett in their search for a new offensive coordinator, but it looks like he’ll be coaching elsewhere in 2015.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Hackett has pulled his name from consideration in St. Louis and will be joining Gus Bradley’s staff in Jacksonville. Per Rapoport, Hackett is expected be the team’s quarterbacks coach.
Moving the Jacksonville would allow Hackett to continue working with Doug Marrone, who hired Hackett as his offensive coordinator at Syracuse and again with the Bills when Marrone was a head coach. Marrone will be working with the offensive line in Jacksonville while Greg Olson runs the offense.
The move will give Hackett another chance to work with a young quarterback after spending the last two years tutoring Bills 2013 first-round pick EJ Manuel. Manuel was benched after four games in 2014, a development that the Jaguars presumably don’t want to see happen with Blake Bortles in his second season.
znModeratorI am not just talking about a couple of deep balls.
I am. The way I see it, subtract that–game killing mistakes where they let the O get easy scores–and they would have won more games. Even with back-up qbs.
znModeratorSomething that sounds like it’s made of steel.
Eisenmann
znModeratorThe Super Bowl Windfall Myth
Why media fall for sports industry’s bogus economic claims
By Neil deMausehttp://fair.org/home/the-super-bowl-windfall-myth/
Maybe this belongs on the other
board, i dunno.w
vWell speaking as just one mod I think it’s fine on this board.
znModeratorExamining Nick Foles as a fit for the Rams
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/15834/examining-nick-foles-as-a-fit-for-the-rams
EARTH CITY, Mo. — NFL teams can’t trade players or sign free agents or do business aside from dealing with the guys on their own roster or not in the league until the new league year starts March 10.
But that doesn’t mean the time between now and then won’t be filled with plenty of rumors and speculation. In St. Louis, it’s no secret that the Rams are going to explore all avenues to bolster the depth chart at quarterback. Even though they plan to bring Sam Bradford back, the Rams’ search will include an extensive look at all outside options including the draft, free agency and, yes, the trade market.
“There’s going to be competition at the quarterback position, there’s no doubt,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said at his end of season news conference. “With somebody that is not in the building right now. We’re hopeful for that.”
Which makes ‘Who will be the quarterback(s) brought in to compete with Bradford?’ one of the most pressing questions of this offseason. Earlier this week, Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles had the honor of being one of the first names to be rumored as a possibility. According to a report at NJ.com, the Rams are one of a handful of teams showing early interest in making a deal for Foles.
Foles was viewed as one of the league’s emerging young quarterbacks after a breakthrough 2013 season in which he threw 27 touchdown passes with just two interceptions in leading the Eagles to an NFC East Division title. Some of the shine came off Foles’ star this season though, as he threw 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while playing eight games before a fractured collarbone ended his season.
Nick Foles
Will Nick Foles be throwing passes for the Rams instead of against them next season?
Apparently, that drop off in performance was enough to leave Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly pondering whether Foles is the team’s long-term answer at the position. In his season-ending news conference, Kelly was asked whether Foles was still his guy but offered no commitment.“I don’t know, we’ll sit down and thoroughly evaluate everything in the offseason,” Kelly told reporters. “It’s no different than any other position. We’ll look at it. Let’s look at the film again. Let’s get all the opinions on it and make valid decisions on it.”
It’s no secret that Kelly has an affinity for Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, the Heisman Trophy winner who Kelly coached before taking the Eagles job. But Kelly and the Eagles are almost certainly well out of range to select Mariota, as they hold the No. 20 overall pick in the draft.
Which might lead us to the crux of the situation. The Rams hold the No. 10 pick in the draft, which is also probably out of reach of Mariota but certainly a lot closer to Mariota’s range than the 20th spot. Should Kelly and the Eagles decide to move up to try to get Mariota, they might have to make multiple trades and could dangle Foles as bait in one of those moves.
The question then becomes whether the Rams would be willing to make the move. There’s no chance the Rams would simply trade the 10th pick for Foles straight up. If Philadelphia offered the 20th pick, Foles and a mid-round pick for the 10th pick, that would be something the Rams would have to take a closer look at.
As it stands, the Rams have no obvious in-house solution at quarterback, and there’s no doubt that they’ll explore any option out there. It remains to be seen how Foles would function outside of Kelly’s offense, but at least he has more of a resume than any other free-agent quarterback or draft prospect the Rams could land.
Considering that the current Rams regime is entering its fourth year without a winning season to its name, adding a quarterback who could legitimately push to be the starter right away (while still drafting a young quarterback to groom) would make plenty of sense.
Over the next couple of months, plenty of other rumors will pop up, but Foles is one name that would be intriguing if he does become available and the price is reasonable.
znModeratorzn wrote:
Rams were robbed in Super Bowl 36. I cringe every time I hear someone claim Belichick figured the officials would “let them play”. What head coach prepares his team to not follow the rules?
Well on that one…most did, frankly. The Vikes made the same complaint about the Rams following the 99 playoff game. In fact, since it was clear throughout the league in those years that refs would just “let em play,” my big complaint is that the Rams defense didn’t do the same thing to the Patz offense.
Really, it wasn’t just that game, and it wasn’t just the Patz. The coach who says get physical with receivers in the playoffs is the one who notices that league-wide, that’s how it was going to be in the post-season.
Of course that was then. They tightened all that up after…in part because of complaints from the Rams.
No, I don’t believe it. How does the Tuck rule fall under that let them play? Between the Patriots taping Rams plays and the officials taking away the Rams passing attack by not calling the penalties the Rams were robbed.
I was just thinking of the aggressive defensive banging on receivers and on Faulk. That stuff was all over the place. Until the changed it a couple of times, including recently, by getting stricter each time. I was only referring to that kind of thing–basically, the physical style of defensive backs. The tuck rule was just a bad call or a bad rule or both.
January 28, 2015 at 1:20 pm in reply to: 101, 1/26 … Albert Breer on re-location (re-location thread) #17592znModeratorBernie: Warner hopes Rams stay in STL
By Bernie Miklasz
PHOENIX • Kurt Warner’s unique NFL career took off in St. Louis, and he’ll always have special, sentimental feelings for the place that gave him his opportunity — which led to his fame, popularity and a Super Bowl ring.
Given his emotional connection, it’s no surprise to hear the retired Rams and Cardinals quarterback say he hopes the Rams remain in St. Louis. Nothing against Los Angeles, but …
“I’m a St. Louis guy,” Warner told KMOX sports producer Ben Boyd. “So I want the Rams to stay there in St. Louis. That’s where my heart is, and I’ll always think of the Rams as part of St. Louis.
“But I hear the rumors. And I understand the logic of the natural fit with the Rams back in LA. But I’m a St. Louis guy. And my hope is that they stay there.”
What about the St. Louis stadium plan?
Will it be enough to compel the Rams and team owner Stan Kroenke to stay? Warner hopes so. But he’s a realist.
“I think that stuff always helps the cause,” Warner said. “But I think the bottom line at the end of the day, whether it’s Stan or the league, if they want the team in LA, I don’t know if there’s anything… if they’re going to get that stadium and all that stuff in LA, I don’t know if there’s anything to stop it.
“I love the proposed plan, I love the fact that St. Louis is stepping up and saying ‘We want our team to stay here.’ Because I think that’s what it’s going to take. But at the end of the day I don’t know what the determining factor is going to be.”
Warner, an analyst for the NFL Network, was asked if he would have liked to play in an open-air stadium n St. Louis. He put up big numbers, indoors, at the Edward Jones Dome during his glory days as the QB for the Greatest Show on Turf _ the only NFL offense to score 500+ points in three consecutive seasons. That’s one of the reasons why Warner is a finalist for 2015 induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Don’t matter to me,” Warner said. “I’ll play anywhere, inside or outside. I loved playing in St. Louis. I loved playing in front of the fans, so it would have been great.”
Thanks to Ben Boyd and KMOX for providing the audio of Warner’s comments.
znModeratorRams were robbed in Super Bowl 36. I cringe every time I hear someone claim Belichick figured the officials would “let them play”. What head coach prepares his team to not follow the rules?
Well on that one…most did, frankly. The Vikes made the same complaint about the Rams following the 99 playoff game. In fact, since it was clear throughout the league in those years that refs would just “let em play,” my big complaint is that the Rams defense didn’t do the same thing to the Patz offense.
Really, it wasn’t just that game, and it wasn’t just the Patz. The coach who says get physical with receivers in the playoffs is the one who notices that league-wide, that’s how it was going to be in the post-season.
Of course that was then. They tightened all that up after…in part because of complaints from the Rams.
znModeratorThe issue for our defense is NOT about talent upgrades.
Unless of course what needs to be upgraded is Jenkins. Precisely because of the mistakes.
For example, Ogletree was a bit of a mess early on and then settled down. Jenkins never did.
And in fact if you go through the season, the game-killing mistakes on defense aren’t coming from everybody. They are coming from a specific set of guys (mostly Jenkins and McCleod).
So maybe it is personnel. And maybe those 2 will either improve or it turns out they can’t play in this defense.
znModeratorMaybe that’s why teams like the Steelers and Eagles aren’t willing to blame spying on losses to the Pats in the 2004 AFC title game and Super Bowl XXXIX, respectively. Maybe the problem in both cases isn’t that either of the teams within Senator Arlen Specter’s territory were the victims of skullduggery. Maybe the problem is that they didn’t take enough steps to prevent themselves from being victimized by practices that were an open secret prior to Week One of the 2007 regular season.
This is why stealing signals is in itself not a rules violation. Meaning, just simply, there’s no rule against it. Why not? The league says that kind of security issue is on the team not the league, mostly because it would be impossible to enforce it.
Taping signals is illegal. Stealing them isn’t.
January 28, 2015 at 3:12 am in reply to: 101, 1/26 … Albert Breer on re-location (re-location thread) #17569znModerator60 degrees here, and it hasn’t rained in 2015.
So, we’re comparing a relatively challenging blizzard to drought.
Interestingly, when I lived in California, I missed winter.
This next pic is real btw. My oldest daughter took it today (Tuesday rather) from her apt. window:
znModeratorWhat a strange year. Rams lose 2 key players to SECOND knee injuries, the defense couldn’t sack anyone for 6 consecutive games then went nutz, they had some inspiring wins even though they were starting back-up qbs but overall made too many game-killing mistakes (all season), the OC took a college job in Georgia, and then the relocation stuff kicked in. Plus the superbowl is tainted, first by (to me) a strangely flubbed game by GB who should have won (but then that’s football), and more importantly by a bizarre cheating scandal with the Patz which is casting a shadow over the whole thing (that’s NOT football).
And then Robert Kraft asks the league to apologize for the whole scandal.
We should just re-set 2014. Do over.
znModeratorten types of qb
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-10-types-of-nfl-quarterbacks/
w
vThat’s an interesting article.
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